the health and the minds of men. How many, were they to exchange
what they call moderate drinking for water, would be surprised to learn
that they had been living under a cloud, in half-stupefaction, and
would become conscious of an intellectual energy of which they had not
before dreamed! Their labors would exhaust them less; and less labor
would be needed for their support; and thus their inability to
cultivate their high nature would in a great measure be removed. The
working class, above all men, have an interest in the cause of
temperance, and they ought to look on the individual who lives by
scattering the means and excitements of drunkenness not only as the
general enemy of his race, but as their own worst foe.

In the next place, how much of the depression of laborers may be traced
to the want of a strict economy! The prosperity of this country has
produced a wastefulness that has extended to the laboring multitude. A
man, here, turns with scorn from fare that in many countries would be
termed luxurious. It is, indeed, important that the standard of living
in all classes should be high; that is, it should include the comforts
of life, the means of neatness and order in our dwellings, and such
supplies of our wants as are fitted to secure vigorous health. But how
many waste their earnings on indulgences which may be spared, and thus
have no resource for a dark day, and are always trembling on the brink
of pauperism! Needless expenses keep many too poor for
self-improvement. And here let me say, that expensive habits among the
more prosperous laborers often interfere with the mental culture of
themselves and their families. How many among them sacrifice
improvement to appetite! How many sacrifice it to the love of show, to
the desire of outstripping others, and to habits of expense which grow
out of this insatiable passion! In a country so thriving and luxurious
as ours, the laborer is in danger of contracting artificial wants and
diseased tastes; and to gratify these he gives himself wholly to
accumulation, and sells his mind for gain. Our unparalleled prosperity
has not been an unmixed good. It has inflamed cupidity, has diseased
the imagination with dreams of boundless success, and plunged a vast
multitude into excessive toils, feverish competitions, and exhausting
cares. A laborer, having secured a neat home and a wholesome table,
should ask nothing more for the senses; but should consecrate his